


celestial navigation

by sodiumflare



Series: a lifetime [1]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Found Family Feels, Gen, schmoop i think is the technical term
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:15:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25814155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodiumflare/pseuds/sodiumflare
Summary: Holidays can be hard. Fortunately, conspiracies are comparatively easy
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: a lifetime [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2071548
Comments: 41
Kudos: 217





	celestial navigation

They find themselves in Rabat in November, mopping up a human smuggling operation Copley had put them on, when Nile notices a definite conspiratorial air from Nicky and Joe. 

"What?" she asks. 

"It's nothing!" Nicky protests, looking guilty as sin. 

She finds out a day or two later, when Joe herds them onto the tram to the nouveau ville while Andy quietly bitches about leaving the medina, because apparently nothing built in the last 200 years has a soul. When they pile out onto the platform, Joe wraps a hand around her shoulder. "I understand it is Thanksgiving."

Nile's heart stutters in her chest. How had she _forgotten_ \- 

"Hey," Andy says. "It is never going to be the same." They're clustered around her under a streetlight, and Nicky is casually leaning against her now, his comforting weight warm against her. Nile knows exactly what they're doing and can't even be mad about it.

"And more importantly," Nicky says, "we are never going to try to recreate anything. Hence..."

Joe's hand on her shoulder swivels her around and he gestures expansively, theatrically, grinning like a fool. "Dinner!"

Nile stares at the neon TGI Friday's sign. 

"You're fucking kidding me." 

"We're really not," Andy says. "Come on, we have reservations."

\--

  
In keeping with its strict commitment to American culture, the TGI Friday's has the first free refills Nile has encountered since shipping out. Joe might even more more excited than she is. 

"Mon cher," Nicky says dryly after waiter brings Joe a third Coke, "you know you will not sleep tonight."

Joe does something with his eyebrow. Nile's pretty sure both she and Andy kick him under the table at the same time. 

The jalapeno poppers and potato skins aren't terrible, all things considered, although Nile's chocolate lava cake so stale she can taste the freezer burn, and Andy's chicken quesadilla inexplicably comes with whipped cream instead of sour cream ("Understandable," says Nicky. "Inventive!" says Joe ). Andy hails them a taxi back to the medina. 

"Thank you," Nile says to Nicky quietly, while Andy argues with driver about the meter in the front seat. 

He shrugs companionably against her, wedged between she and Joe. "It's nothing."

"It's _free refills_ ," Joe intones reverently. 

Andy gets the driver to let them off at the beach, and Nile peels her shoes off, treks down the sand barefoot. It doesn't miss her attention that Nicky and Joe are hanging back by the road, that Andy is following but at a remove. Sometimes it's galling, how good they are at this. Nile wades in up to her ankles, stares out at the darkness where the ocean melts into the night sky. Thanksgiving means Christmas coming soon. The water drags gently at her feet, and Nile swallows hard, the stars like salt on a black table blurring gently. 

She doesn't know how long she stands there, feet sinking slowly into the wet sand, before she comes back to herself. Nile scrubs a hand over her face and sniffs wetly before turning around and picking her way back up the shore. 

She finds them sitting cross-legged on the road's shoulder, holding toothpicks and digging through what appears to be a shared Styrofoam cup of - 

"Is that - _snails_?" 

Nicky grins, gesturing at her with a shell. "Classic Maghreb street fare!"

"They're good tonight!" Joe adds, grinning harder than is probably strictly necessary. "Want one?" 

Andy hands her a toothpick. "I hate you all," Nile says.

"Of course you do," Nicky says. "That's family." 

**Author's Note:**

> I'd apologize to Aaron Sorkin for nicking his title, except fuck Aaron Sorkin, honestly
> 
> Events in this fic loosely based on a Thanksgiving in Rabat. Pretty sure the TGI Friday's isn't there anymore. Maybe they gave one too many people whipped cream with their quesadilla. The snails are delicious


End file.
